Halan Mohamed

PhD Student

Office: Roberts Building, Room 221, UCL

Research

Membrane technologies hold many advantages over traditional separation processes which has aided in their rising popularity as an alternative method for water purification and bio-separations. However, the major downfall of this technology is the declining flux associated with fouling. Inspiration from the kidney filtration system has been targeted in this research as it is a remarkable organ which produces over four million litres of effectively protein free urine over a lifetime without any notable fouling by proteins. Preliminary studies conducted during Halan's MEng research project suggest innovative designs for artificial membranes for water purification and bio-separations. Her research now focuses on systematically underpinning the mechanisms through which the kidney achieves this superior separation, on both the molecular and system scale, using the nature inspired chemical engineering (NICE) methodology to design and synthesise membranes which incorporate these properties.

Education

MEng Chemical Engineering, UCL, 2017

Publication

H. Mohamed, S. Hudziak, V. Arumuganathan, Z. Meng, M.-O. Coppens, 2020, Effects of charge and hydrophilicity on the anti-fouling properties of kidney-inspired, polyester membranes. Molecular Systems Design & Engineering 5, 1219-1229. [Link]
Z. Meng, S. Casanova, H. Mohamed, N. Kapil, X. Xiao, Y. Zhang, M.-O. Coppens, D. Mattia, 2020, Polymer nanotube membranes synthesized via liquid deposition in anodic alumina, Colloid and Interface Science Communications 39, 100334. [Link]